The UK government has announced plans to cut its international development funding to Malawi by 60% in 2026-27, with reductions reaching 90% by 2028-29 compared with 2025-26 levels.
Malawi received £50.2m in UK official development assistance (ODA) in 2025-26. Under funding plans published in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's (FCDO) Annual Report and Accounts 2025-26, that figure is set to fall to £20m in 2026-27, £10m in 2027-28 and £5m in 2028-29.
The cuts to Malawi are steeper than those affecting the wider region. UK aid to Africa as a whole is falling from £1.449bn to £693.8m, a reduction of 52%.
The planned 90% cut to Malawi's funding by 2028-29 is roughly 38 percentage points deeper than the average reduction across Africa.
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In a separate policy paper, The UK's Modern Development Approach, the FCDO said the government had taken "the decision in the current fiscal circumstances to reduce our ODA budget" in order to fund a necessary increase in defence spending.
The paper sets out what the department describes as four fundamental shifts in the UK's approach to development.
Stuart Brown, chief executive of the Scotland Malawi Partnership (SMP), warned of the impact on some of the country's most vulnerable people.
"Already Malawians face multiple daily challenges, economic fragility and the devastating impacts of the climate crisis," he said. "Some of the most vulnerable women, children and families in Malawi will suffer as a result of these swingeing cuts.
"More people will go hungry, the most basic healthcare provision will be diminished, research progress impeded, educational and employment prospects stunted and lives will be lost. We strongly urge the British Government to reconsider."
The cuts have also drawn criticism from senior military figures. General Lord Richard Dannatt, former head of the British Army, has previously argued that reducing aid to fund defence spending risks weakening, rather than strengthening, the UK's overall position.
